Display control apparatus, image capture apparatus, display control method, and image capture apparatus control method

ABSTRACT

A display control apparatus displays, together with an image on a display unit, items related to a plurality of objects in the image. At this time, for the plurality of objects in the image, the display control apparatus displays items related to the respective objects at display positions having a predetermined relative positional relationship with the objects. The display control apparatus decides the order of priority of the plurality of objects. In case that the area of a main object having a highest decided priority level and the display position having the predetermined relative positional relationship for an item related to another object overlap each other, the display control apparatus adjusts the display position of the item related to the other object to eliminate the overlapping, and displays the item related to the other object.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a display control apparatus, imagecapture apparatus, display control method, and image capture apparatuscontrol method.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, there is known an image capture apparatus which recognizesthat a captured object is a person, and provides various value-addedfunctions to the person object. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2009-110147 discloses an image capture apparatus which performsprocessing of associating attribute data of a registered person withface image data detected by a face detection means, and displays a markimage and name data corresponding to it near a face area correspondingto the registered face image data.

However, when many faces exist in one frame or objects exist densely,the ratio of the name display area to the image becomes high, the namedisplay overlaps the important person face, making the display lessvisible. When pieces of information to be displayed are dense, apersonal computer or the like gives priority to objects, and superposesand displays them, which is generally known as a multiwindow system.Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-015626 discloses an arrangement inwhich display objects are automatically aligned and displayed, inaddition to control of the multiwindow system.

However, by simple alignment, the display positions of an object andinformation related to the object are spaced apart from each other, andtheir relation becomes unclear. To solve this, more complicated displaycontrol is required to arrange display information while maintaining therelation with an object.

For an image capture apparatus having restrictions on the manufacturingcost and battery capacity, it is also important to suppress theperformance of a mounted arithmetic device and the operating load on thearithmetic device. Hence, in image capturing accompanied by live viewdisplay which particularly requires high processing ability in realtime, it is necessary to allocate the ability of the arithmetic deviceto image capture processing as much as possible, and avoid execution ofcomplicated display control as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments have been made to solve the above problems, and oneaspect of the embodiments provides a display control apparatus capableof displaying an item related to an object by simple display controlwhile maintaining the visibility of the object.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided adisplay control apparatus comprising: a display control unit configuredto display, together with an image on a display unit, items related to aplurality of objects in the image, the display control unit displaying,for the plurality of objects in the image, items related to therespective objects at display positions having a predetermined relativepositional relationship with the objects; and a decision unit configuredto decide an order of priority of the plurality of objects, wherein incase that an area of a main object having a high priority decided by thedecision unit and a display position having the predetermined relativepositional relationship for an item related to another object overlapeach other, the display control unit adjusts the display position of theitem related to the other object to eliminate the overlapping, anddisplays the item related to the other object.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is providedan image capture apparatus including a shooting mode in which a displayunit performs live view display, and a playback mode in which thedisplay unit displays a shot image for browsing, comprising: a displaycontrol unit configured to display, for a plurality of objects in animage displayed on the display unit, items related to the objects atdisplay positions in the image that have a predetermined relativepositional relationship with the objects; and a decision unit configuredto decide an order of priority of the plurality of objects whose itemsare displayed, wherein the display control unit includes an adjustmentunit which adjusts display of the item to widen a visible range of theitem, and in the shooting mode, the adjustment unit executes theadjustment for only an item related to a main object having a highpriority among the plurality of objects, and in the playback mode,executes the adjustment for items related to the respective objects.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided adisplay control method comprising: a display control step of displaying,together with an image on a display unit, items related to a pluralityof objects in the image, in the display control step, for the pluralityof objects in the image, items related to the respective objects beingdisplayed at display positions having a predetermined relativepositional relationship with the objects; and a decision step ofdeciding an order of priority of the plurality of objects, wherein inthe display control step, in case that an area of a main object having ahigh priority decided in the decision step and a display position havingthe predetermined relative positional relationship for an item relatedto another object overlap each other, the display position of the itemrelated to the other object is adjusted to eliminate the overlapping,and the item related to the other object is displayed.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of controlling an image capture apparatus including a shootingmode in which a display unit performs live view display, and a playbackmode in which the display unit displays a shot image for browsing,comprising: a display control step of displaying, for a plurality ofobjects in an image displayed on the display unit, items related to theobjects at display positions in the image that have a predeterminedrelative positional relationship with the objects; and a decision stepof deciding an order of priority of the plurality of objects whose itemsare displayed, wherein the display control step includes an adjustmentstep of adjusting display of the item to widen a visible range of theitem, and in the adjustment step, in the shooting mode, the adjustmentis executed for only an item related to a main object having a highpriority among the plurality of objects, and in the playback mode, theadjustment is executed for items related to the respective objects.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a view exemplifying the outer appearance of an image captureapparatus 100;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram exemplifying the hardware arrangement of theimage capture apparatus 100;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the image captureapparatus;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing playback mode processing according to anembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing item display processing according to theembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing item display processing according to theembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing shooting mode processing according to theembodiment;

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B, 10, 11A, and 11B are views for explaining itemdisplay on a display unit 28 in the playback mode; and

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, and 14B are views for explaining itemdisplay on the display unit 28 in the shooting mode.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the outer appearance of an image captureapparatus 100 (digital camera) according to the embodiment. Referring toFIG. 1, a display unit 28 is formed from, for example, a liquid crystaldisplay, and used to display images and various kinds of information. Ashutter button 61 is an operation unit for issuing a shootinginstruction. A mode switch 60 is an operation unit for switching betweenvarious modes. A connector 112 connects a connection cable 111 and theimage capture apparatus 100. An operation unit 70 is formed fromoperation members such as various switches and buttons for acceptingvarious operations from the user. A controller wheel 73 is an operationmember which is included in the operation unit 70 and can be rotated. Apower switch 72 switches between power ON and power OFF. A recordingmedium 200 is a recording medium such as a memory card or hard disk. Arecording medium slot 201 is a slot for storing the recording medium200. The recording medium 200 stored in the recording medium slot 201can communicate with the image capture apparatus 100. A lid 202 is thelid of the recording medium slot 201.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram exemplifying the arrangement of the imagecapture apparatus 100 according to the embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2,a photographing lens 103 is a lens unit including a zoom lens and focuslens. A shutter 101 is a shutter having the stop function. An imagesensing unit 22 includes an image sensor which converts an optical imageinto an electrical signal and is formed from a CCD element, CMOSelement, or the like. An A/D converter 23 converts an analog signal intoa digital signal. The A/D converter 23 is used to convert an analogsignal output from the image sensing unit 22 into a digital signal. Abarrier 102 protects the image sensing system of the image captureapparatus 100 from dirt and damage by covering the image sensing systemincluding the photographing lens 103, shutter 101, and image sensingunit 22.

An image processing unit 24 performs predetermined pixel interpolation,resize processing such as reduction, and color conversion processing fordata from the A/D converter 23 or data from a memory control unit 15.Also, the image processing unit 24 performs predetermined arithmeticprocessing using captured image data. Based on the obtained arithmeticresult, a system control unit 50 performs exposure control and focuscontrol. Accordingly, TTL (Through The Lens) AF (Auto Focus) processing,AE (Auto Exposure) processing, and EF (pre-Electronic Flash) processingare performed. The image processing unit 24 further performspredetermined arithmetic processing using captured image data. Based onthe obtained arithmetic result, the image processing unit 24 alsoperforms TTL AWB (Auto White Balance) processing.

Data output from the A/D converter 23 is directly written in a memory 32via the image processing unit 24 and memory control unit 15 or via thememory control unit 15. The memory 32 stores image data which isobtained by the image sensing unit 22 and converted into digital data bythe A/D converter 23, and image data to be displayed on the display unit28. The memory 32 has a storage capacity enough to store a predeterminednumber of still images, a moving image of a predetermined time, andsound.

The memory 32 also functions as an image display memory (video memory).A D/A converter 13 converts image display data stored in the memory 32into an analog signal, and supplies the analog signal to the displayunit 28. In this manner, the display image data written in the memory 32is displayed on the display unit 28 via the D/A converter 13. Thedisplay unit 28 presents a display corresponding to an analog signalfrom the D/A converter 13 on a display such as an LCD. The D/A converter13 converts, into an analog signal, a digital signal which has beenA/D-converted once by the A/D converter 23 and accumulated in the memory32. Resultant analog signals are sequentially transferred to the displayunit 28 and displayed, thereby implementing through image display (to bealso referred to as live view display hereinafter). This provides anelectronic viewfinder function in shooting.

A nonvolatile memory 56 is an electrically erasable/programmable memory.The nonvolatile memory 56 uses, for example, an EEPROM. The nonvolatilememory 56 stores constants, programs, and the like for the operation ofthe system control unit 50. The programs here include programs forexecuting various flowcharts to be described later in the embodiment.

The system control unit 50 controls the overall image capture apparatus100. The system control unit 50 implements each processing of theembodiment to be described later by executing a program recorded in thenonvolatile memory 56. A system memory 52 is formed from a RAM. In thesystem memory 52, constants, variable, programs read out from thenonvolatile memory 56, and the like for the operation of the systemcontrol unit 50 are expanded. The system control unit 50 also performsdisplay control by controlling the memory 32, D/A converter 13, displayunit 28, and the like. A system timer 53 is a timepiece unit whichmeasures the time taken for various control operations and the time ofthe built-in timer.

The mode switch 60, shutter button 61, and operation unit 70 areoperation members for inputting various operation instructions to thesystem control unit 50.

The mode switch 60 switches the operation mode of the system controlunit 50 to the shooting mode (including the still image shooting modeand moving image shooting mode) accompanied by live view display by thedisplay unit 28, the playback mode for browsing captured images, and thelike. Modes included in the still image shooting mode are the autoshooting mode, auto scene determination mode, manual mode, various scenemodes having shooting mode-specific shooting settings, program AE mode,and custom mode. Switching to one of these modes included in the stillimage shooting mode may be performed using the mode switch 60.Alternatively, after temporarily switching to the still image shootingmode using the mode switch 60, the still image shooting mode may beswitched to one of these modes included in the still image shooting modeusing another operation member. Similarly, the moving image shootingmode may include a plurality of modes.

The shutter button 61 includes a first shutter switch 62 and secondshutter switch 64. The first shutter switch 62 is turned on by aso-called half stroke (shooting preparation instruction) during theoperation of the shutter button 61 attached to the image captureapparatus 100, and generates a first shutter switch signal SW1. Inaccordance with the first shutter switch signal SW1, the system controlunit 50 starts operations such as AF (Auto Focus) processing, AE (AutoExposure) processing, AWB (Auto White Balance) processing, and EF(pre-Electronic Flash) processing. The second shutter switch 64 isturned on by a so-called full stroke (shooting instruction) upon thecompletion of the operation of the shutter button 61, and generates asecond shutter switch signal SW2. In accordance with the second shutterswitch signal SW2, the system control unit 50 starts the operation of aseries of shooting processes (actual shooting) till writing of imagedata on the recording medium 200 after readout of a signal from theimage sensing unit 22.

By selecting and operating various function icons displayed on thedisplay unit 28, functions are properly assigned to the respectiveoperation members of the operation unit 70 for respective scenes, andthe operation members function as various function buttons. The functionbuttons are, for example, an end button, return button, image feedbutton, jump button, narrow-down button, and attribute change button.For example, when the user presses a menu button, the display unit 28displays a menu screen capable of various settings. The user canintuitively make various settings using the menu screen displayed on thedisplay unit 28, a four-way selector button to the up, down, left, andright, and a SET button.

The controller wheel 73 shown in FIG. 1 is a rotatable operation memberincluded in the operation unit 70, and is used to designate a selectionitem together with the selector button. When the user rotates thecontroller wheel 73, an electrical pulse signal is generated inaccordance with the operation amount, and the system control unit 50controls each unit of the image capture apparatus 100 based on the pulsesignal. From the pulse signal, the angle by which the controller wheel73 has been rotated, and the number of rotations can be determined. Notethat the controller wheel 73 is an arbitrary operation member as long asits rotating operation can be detected. For example, the controllerwheel 73 may be a dial operation member so that the controller wheel 73itself rotates in accordance with a rotating operation by the user togenerate a pulse signal. The controller wheel 73 may be an operationmember formed from a touch sensor (so-called touch wheel) so that thecontroller wheel 73 itself does not rotate and detects a rotatingoperation with the user's finger on the controller wheel 73.

A power control unit 80 includes a battery detection circuit, a DC-DCconverter, and a switching circuit which switches a block to beenergized. The power control unit 80 detects mounting/no mounting of abattery, the type of battery, and the remaining battery level. The powercontrol unit 80 controls the DC-DC converter based on the detectionresult and an instruction from the system control unit 50, and suppliesnecessary voltages to respective units including the recording medium200 for a necessary period.

A power supply unit 30 includes a primary battery such as an alkalinebattery or lithium battery, a secondary battery such as a NiCd battery,NiMH battery, or Li battery, and an AC adapter. A recording medium I/F18 is an interface with the recording medium 200 such as a memory cardor hard disk. The recording medium 200 is a recording medium such as amemory card for recording shot images, and includes a semiconductormemory and magnetic disk.

The above-described image capture apparatus 100 can execute shootingusing single center point AF or face AF. In single center point AF, AFis performed for a single center point within the shooting frame. Inface AF, AF is performed for a face within the shooting frame that isdetected by a face detection function. Next, the face detection functionwill be explained. The system control unit 50 sends image data toundergo face detection to the image processing unit 24. Under thecontrol of the system control unit 50, the image processing unit 24causes a horizontal bandpass filter to act on the image data. Also,under the control of the system control unit 50, the image processingunit 24 causes a vertical bandpass filter to act on the processed imagedata. The horizontal and vertical bandpass filters detect edgecomponents from the image data.

Then, the system control unit 50 performs pattern matching for thedetected edge components, and extracts eye, nose, mouth, and earcandidates. The system control unit 50 determines that extracted eyecandidates that satisfy preset conditions (for example, the distancebetween two eyes and the gradient) are paired eyes, and narrows downextracted eye candidates to only those including paired eyes. The systemcontrol unit 50 associates the narrowed-down eye candidates with othercorresponding parts (nose, mouth, and ears) which form a face, andapplies a preset non-face condition filter to them, detecting a face.The system control unit 50 outputs the face information in accordancewith the face detection result, and ends the processing. At this time,the system memory 52 stores feature amounts such as the number of faces.

In this fashion, object information can be detected by performing imageanalysis for image data to undergo live view display or playbackdisplay, and extracting the feature amount of the image data. Althoughthe embodiment has exemplified face information as object information,the object information includes various kinds of information such asred-eye determination, eye detection, eye closure detection, and smiledetection.

Note that face AE, face FE, and face WB can be executed at the same timeas face AF. Face AE optimizes the exposure of the entire frame inaccordance with the brightness of a detected face. Face FE adjusts theelectronic flash mainly for a detected face. Face WB optimizes the WB ofthe entire frame in accordance with the color of a detected face.

Personal authentication is also possible to record (register) in advancefeature data of the face of a specific person in a nonvolatile memory,compare feature data of a face detected by face detection with thefeature data of the registered person, and determine whether thedetected face is the registered face. Relation information such as thename and birthday may be recorded in association with the feature dataof the registered face. This makes it possible to display a name and thelike for a face detected from a through image in the live view displayin shooting or a face detected from a playback image. Face AF inshooting can be performed preferentially for a face identified as aregistered face out of a plurality of detected faces.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a basic sequence from the activation toend of the image capture apparatus 100 according to the embodiment. Theimage capture apparatus 100 in the embodiment can operate in one of the“shooting mode”, “playback mode”, “time display mode”, and the like inaccordance with the mode switch 60. In the “shooting mode”, the displayunit 28 displays a live view, and shooting is executed by operating theshutter button 61. In the “playback mode”, shot images stored in therecording medium 200 are played back on the display unit 28 forbrowsing.

After the activation of the camera, the process advances to step S301.In step S301, the system control unit 50 determines based on theposition of the mode switch 60 whether the image capture apparatus 100is in the shooting mode. If the system control unit 50 determines thatthe image capture apparatus 100 is in the shooting mode, the processadvances to step S304, and the system control unit 50 performsprocessing in the shooting mode. The shooting mode processing will bedescribed later with reference to FIGS. 7 and 12A to 14B. If the systemcontrol unit 50 determines in step S301 that the image capture apparatus100 is not in the shooting mode, the process advances to step S302. Instep S302, the system control unit 50 determines based on the positionof the mode switch 60 whether the image capture apparatus 100 is in theplayback mode. If the system control unit 50 determines that the imagecapture apparatus 100 is in the playback mode, the process advances tostep S305, and the system control unit 50 performs playback modeprocessing. The playback mode processing will be described later withreference to FIGS. 4 to 6 and 8A to 11B. If the system control unit 50determines in step S302 that the image capture apparatus 100 is not inthe playback mode, the process advances to step S303. In step S303, thesystem control unit 50 performs processing corresponding to another modedesignated by the mode switch 60. Processing corresponding to anothermode is, for example, processing in the time display mode in which onlythe current time is displayed. After the end of each mode processing,the process advances to step S306 to determine whether to shut down thecamera operation. If it is determined to shut down the camera operation,the camera operation ends; if it is determined not to shut down thecamera operation, the process returns to step S301. The camera operationis shut down when, for example, the power switch 72 is pressed.

Processing in Playback Mode Step S305

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing in the playback mode in whichan image is browsed according to the embodiment. When the playback modeprocessing starts, the system control unit 50 reads an image from therecording medium 200, and displays the read image on the display unit 28in step S401. By this display, for example, an image 420 is displayed asshown in FIG. 8A. Then, the process advances to step S402, and thesystem control unit 50 determines whether the header (attributeinformation) of the image during display records the position of a faceand relation information (for example, name) of the face asauthentication information for the image. If the system control unit 50determines that the authentication information exists, the processadvances to step S403; if it determines that no authenticationinformation exists, ends. The authentication information is recorded inthe header of the image file when personal authentication was successfulin shooting. Also, when face detection was performed and personalauthentication was successful after shooting (for example, in playback),the authentication information may be written in the header of the imagefile. When authentication information exists, relation information (forexample, name) can be displayed as a display item (to be referred to asan item hereinafter) for a face contained in the image. For example,items are displayed as items 421, 422, and 423 for detected persons 1,2, and 3, as shown in FIG. 8A (display positions and overlapping orderare adjusted, which will be described later). In step S402, it isdetermined whether authentication information is recorded in the headerof an image to be displayed. Alternatively, face detection and personalauthentication may be performed at this time to obtain authenticationinformation. That is, it is also possible to perform personalauthentication at this time, if a registered face is detected, obtainits position in the system memory 52, and obtain information related tothe person of the face from the nonvolatile memory 56.

In step S403, the system control unit 50 obtains an object facedetection count Imax in the image during display. When three objects,that is, person 1, person 2, and person 3 exist, as shown in FIG. 8A,and they are detected, Imax=3. Then, the system control unit 50 decidesthe order of priority of a plurality of objects detected from the imagein steps S404 and S405, and displays items related to the objects in thedecided order of priority in steps S406 to S409.

More specifically, in step S404, the system control unit 50 obtains thepriority level of each object, and defines an object having a highestpriority level as Ip (to be referred to as a leading object or mainobject hereinafter). Note that the priority can be decided as follows.Weighting is performed to give priority to a larger face or a facecloser to the center of the frame among a plurality of faces detectedfrom an image, thereby deciding the priority levels of the respectiveobjects. Alternatively, a priority level is set in advance individuallyfor each object and registered in the nonvolatile memory 56. Then, theregistered priority levels are referred to for respective objectsrecognized in an image, obtaining priority levels. Based on the obtainedpriority levels, the order of priority of the respective objects isdecided. Alternatively, information about the result of deciding theorder of priority upon shooting, which is recorded in the header of theimage file, is obtained, and the order of priority based on the obtainedinformation is set. The embodiment assumes that person 1 is the mainobject Ip. In step S405, the system control unit 50 rearranges objectsIi in the order of priority for subsequent processing. For example, whenperson 1, person 2, and person 3 have priority levels in descendingorder, they are prioritized in the order of I1 (=Ip)>I2>I3.

Objects are rearranged in the order of priority to provide a displaysystem (display order) convenient for a browsing apparatus beforedisplay because the image browsing function desirably allows browsingeven an image shot by a general image capture apparatus to which thepresent invention is not applied. After that, in step S406, the systemcontrol unit 50 initializes, to 1, a variable i indicating the itemrendering order.

In step S407, the system control unit 50 executes item displayprocessing for displaying an item related to each object. The itemdisplay processing will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 5 and6. In the item display processing, the item of each detected object isdisplayed basically below the center of the face of the object. Forexample, for an image as shown in FIG. 8A, when items are displayed atbasic positions, the items 421, 422, and 423 are displayed incorrespondence with person 1, person 2, and person 3. However, in thedisplay form as shown in FIG. 8A, the item 422 of person 2 and the item423 of person 3 overlap the face area of the main object (IP=person 1),and the face of the main object cannot be seen. To prevent this, theitem display processing according to embodiment adjusts the displaypositions of the items so that the face of the main object can be easilyseen (FIG. 5). Also, the display of the item of the main object and thedisplay of another item are controlled not to overlap each other as muchas possible, improving the visibility of the display of the item of themain object (FIG. 6).

In step S408, the system control unit 50 increments the variable iindicating the item rendering order. In step S409, the system controlunit 50 determines whether the variable i indicating the rendering orderhas reached Imax. If the variable i has not reached the face detectioncount Imax, the process returns to step S407 to repeat the item displayprocessing. If the variable i has reached the face detection count Imax,the process ends.

The item display processing in step S407 will be explained. FIG. 5 is aflowchart showing an item display processing sequence. In the itemdisplay processing, for a plurality of objects in an image browsed anddisplayed on the screen of the display unit 28, items related to therespective objects are displayed at positions each having apredetermined relative positional relationship with the object (stepS501). Further, in the item display processing of the embodiment, thedisplay positions of the items are adjusted to widen the visible rangefor higher visibility of the items (steps S502 to S509). Especially insteps S501 to S505, if at least part of the displays of the itemsextends outside the image, the display positions are moved so that allthe items fall within the image. In steps S506 to S510, when the display(for example, face) of a main object serving as an object having ahighest priority level and the display of an item related to an objectother than the main object overlap each other, the display position ofthe item related to the other object is moved.

First, in step S501, the system control unit 50 displays an item relatedto the object Ii in the first area. In the embodiment, the first area isthe basic position described above, and is defined by a positionrelative to the face of a person serving as an object. The first areais, for example, a display area when an item is displayed at a lowerposition by a predetermined distance from the face area of a person.When the item 421 of person 1 is displayed in the first area in theimage as shown in FIG. 8A, it is displayed at a position as shown inFIG. 8A. In step S502, the system control unit 50 determines whetheritems displayed in step S501 fall within the display area of the displayunit 28 (in the embodiment, within a display area of the display unit 28where the image 420 is displayed). If all the displayed items fallwithin the display area, the process advances to step S506; if NO, tostep S503.

In step S503, the system control unit 50 moves the display position ofthe item displayed in step S501 to the second area. The second area isalso defined by a relative positional relationship with the object. Inthe embodiment, the second area is an item display area at an upperposition by a predetermined distance from the face area of a person. Inthe example of FIG. 8B, the item 421 of person 1 extends outside thedisplay area of the display unit 28 in the first area, so the item 421is moved to the second area for person 1. In step S504, the systemcontrol unit 50 determines whether the display of the item moved in stepS503 falls within the display area of the display unit 28. If thedisplay of the item falls within the display area, the process advancesto step S506. If the display of the item extends outside the displayarea, the process advances to step S505. In step S505, the systemcontrol unit 50 moves the display position of the item displayed in stepS503 to the third area. The third area is a position obtained by furthermoving the first area horizontally to the right or left so that thedisplay of the item falls within the display area of the display unit28. For example, when the item 421 of person 1 is displayed in the firstarea, it extends outside the display area, as shown in FIG. 9A. Hence,the item 421 is moved to the second area by the processing of step S503.However, the item 421 extends outside the display area even in thesecond area, and thus is moved to the third area (step S505). As aresult, the item 421 is displayed at a position as shown in FIG. 9A.

In step S506, the system control unit 50 determines whether the displayof the item at the display position set in step S501, S503, or S505overlaps the face area of the object Ip serving as the main object. Ifthe display of the item and the face area of the object Ip overlap eachother, the process advances to step S507; if they do not overlap eachother, ends. In step S506, if the object related to the item to beprocessed is the main object Ip, the system control unit 50 determinesthat the display of the item and the face area of the main object Ip donot overlap each other. In this manner, if the object to be processed isthe main object (that is, Ii=Ip), the display position of the item ischanged only when it extends outside the display area. Accordingly, thedisplay of the item related to the main object can be placedpreferentially at an easy-to-see position.

If Ii≠Ip, that is, the object related to the item to be processed is notthe main object, the system control unit 50 determines whether thedisplay of the item of the object Ii overlaps the face area of theobject Ip serving as the main object. If the system control unit 50determines in step S506 that the display of the item and the face areaof the object Ip overlap each other, it moves the item displayed in stepS501, S503, or S505 to the second area in step S507. This can preventthe display of the item of the object Ii from overlapping the face areaof the object Ip, as shown in FIG. 9B. The face of the main object canbe easily browsed.

In step S508, the system control unit 50 determines whether the itemmoved and displayed in step S507 falls within the display area. If theitem falls within the display area, the item display processing ends; ifthe item falls outside the display area, the process advances to stepS509. In step S509, the system control unit 50 moves the item displayedin step S507 to the first area, and if the display of the item in thefirst area extends outside the display area, to the third area. That is,since an item other than the main object overlaps the face area of themain object, the display position of the item is moved. However, whenthe resultant display of the item falls outside the display area, theitem is permitted to overlap the face area of the main object. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 10, the item 422 overlaps the face area of themain object (person 1), and thus is moved to the first area (step S507).However, the item 422 extends outside the display area, and returnsagain to the first area (step S509). In this case, the item overlaps theface of the main object. However, it is more inconvenient for the userthat an item other than the main object cannot be displayed in thedisplay area. Thus, this control is adopted. In step S510, the systemcontrol unit 50 displays the display of the item of the object Ip in theforeground among the displays of all items. Then, the item displayprocessing ends.

In the example of FIG. 5, an item is displayed or moved in steps S501,S503, S505, S507, and S509. However, the present invention is notlimited to this. At these timings, an item may be neither displayed normoved, and only a display position may be obtained (calculated) on theassumption that the item was displayed or moved in steps S501, S503,S505, S507, and S509. Based on the obtained display position, therespective determinations and processes in the processing of FIG. 5 maybe performed to adjust a final display position. Then, after NO in stepS409 of FIG. 4, it may be controlled to display all items at finalizeddisplay positions.

In the item display processing, displays (image number 424, total imagecount display 425, shooting date & time 426, and image information 427in FIGS. 8A to 10) other than items related to persons may be added anddisplayed in the foreground with respect to the displays of the itemsrelated to the objects. Accordingly, the image capture apparatus 100 canmake more noticeable displays which are more important than informationrelated to objects.

Note that the above-mentioned item related to an object includes, forexample, the person name and birthday information. Although the prioritylevel of an object is obtained in step S404, the system control unit 50may determine it from the contents of a shot image. For example, thesystem control unit 50 may set the order of priority in the order of adistance from the image capture apparatus to an object (for example, aclosest object is set as a main object). Alternatively, the smile of anobject may be scored to set the order of priority in descending order ofthe score of the smile. Further, the order of priority may be decided byapplying the above-mentioned distance or smile score to a priority levelregistered in advance.

The processing shown in FIG. 5 has been explained for a case in whichthe display of an item overlaps the face area of a main object. Further,the embodiment adjusts item display positions in consideration ofoverlapping of items so that the item itself of the main object can beeasily seen. A solution when items overlap each other will be explainedwith reference to FIG. 6. Note that either the processing shown in FIG.5 or the processing shown in FIG. 6 may be executed, or both of them maybe executed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing another example of the item displayprocessing described with reference to FIG. 5. According to the itemdisplay processing of FIG. 5, in the processes of steps S506 to S509,the item of an object other than a main object is displayed at aposition where it does not overlap the face of the main object. To thecontrary, in the example of FIG. 6, the item of an object other than amain object is adjusted to be displayed at a position where it does notoverlap the item of the main object. Note that the processing shown inFIG. 6 is executed in step S407 of FIG. 4. Processes in steps S601 toS605 are the same as those in steps S501 to S505, and processes in stepsS607 to S610 are the same as those in steps S507 to S510. By theprocesses in steps S606 to S609, when the display of an item related toa main object serving as an object having a highest priority leveloverlaps that of an item related to an object other than the mainobject, the display position of the item related to the other object ismoved.

In step S606, the system control unit 50 determines whether the displayof the item of an object Ii overlaps that of the item of the object Ipserving as the main object. If the displays of these items overlap eachother, the process advances to step S607; if they do not overlap eachother, the item display processing ends. In step S607, the systemcontrol unit 50 moves the item displayed in step S601, S603, or S605 tothe second area. By this processing, both the items 422 and 423 otherthan that of the main object are moved to the second area, as shown inFIG. 11A. This can prevent the display of the item of the object Ii fromoverlapping the item of the main object Ip, as shown in FIG. 11A,improving the visibility of the item of the main object.

Also in the example of FIG. 6, similar to FIG. 5, an item is displayedor moved in steps S601, S603, S605, S607, and S609. However, the presentinvention is not limited to this. At these timings, an item may beneither displayed nor moved, and only a display position may be obtained(calculated) on the assumption that the item was displayed or moved insteps S601, S603, S605, S607, and S609. Based on the obtained displayposition, the respective determinations and processes in the processingof FIG. 6 may be performed to adjust a final display position. Then,after NO in step S409 of FIG. 4, it may be controlled to display allitems at finalized display positions.

In step S610, the system control unit 50 displays the item of the mainobject Ip in the foreground. For example, when the items 422 and 423 aremoved in step S607 and at least part of them extends outside the displayarea, as shown in FIG. 11B, they return to the first area in step S609.In step S610, the item 421 of the object Ip is displayed in theforeground. This processing has an effect capable of maintaining thevisibility of the item of a main object even when the displays of itemsoverlap each other.

The sequences of FIGS. 5 and 6 may be combined to perform the processesin steps S606 to S609 before step S510 after steps S506 and S509 of FIG.5. This can prevent the display position of the item of an object otherthan a main object from overlapping both the face and item of the mainobject.

When the item display processing in FIG. 5 is employed, the position ofthe item of another object is determined unless the position of the itemof a main object is not determined. Therefore, items serving as objectinformation may be arranged in ascending order of priority in step S405,and displayed in the order from an object having a lower priority levelin steps S406 to S409. When only the position of the item of a mainobject is determined first, even if the item display processing in FIG.6 is adopted, items serving as object information may be arranged inascending order of priority in step S405, and displayed in the orderfrom an object having a lower priority level. By rendering items in theorder of priority of objects, a plurality of items related to aplurality of objects are displayed in a display order complying with theorder of priority so that an item related to an object having a highestpriority level is displayed in the foreground of the screen.

As described above, the image display processing in the playback modeaccording to the embodiment has an effect capable of, even when manyfaces exist in a limited display area, displaying a related item withhigh visibility for at least the face of a main object.

Shooting Mode Processing Step S304

Next, display processing for the display unit 28 functioning as anelectronic viewfinder in the shooting mode, that is, the display unit 28which performs live view display will be explained. For example, a statein which three persons are simultaneously captured in the imagecapturing frame, as shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, will be considered. Inthis display, when it is determined that these three persons matchregistered faces, the items of all the persons are displayed at basicpositions, that is, in areas immediately below the respective faces, asshown in FIG. 12A. In this display, however, an identification nameserving as the item of a face 1201 of a person serving as a main objectcaptured large at the center of the frame is interrupted by theidentification name of another person, impairing visibility. To solvethis, the embodiment will explain an example in which the displaypositions of the items of objects and their overlapping order areadjusted not to impair the visibility of the item of a main object. Anoperation when the shooting mode processing (step S304) in theembodiment is executed will be explained with reference to the flowchartof FIG. 7.

In step S701, it is determined whether the face of a person has beendetected from a through image during shooting. If no face has beendetected, the process ends. If the face of a person has been detected,the process advances to step S702, and the system control unit 50 storesthe face detection count Imax. In the image exemplified in FIG. 12A,Imax=3. In step S703, the system control unit 50 decides a main objectbased on the priority levels of the objects. The main object is decidedfrom the result of weighting based on, for example, whether a face iscloser to the center of the frame among a plurality of detected faces,is larger, or has been registered. In this example, the face 1201 at thecenter in the image of FIG. 12A is decided as a main object. In stepS704, the system control unit 50 sets the display order of an itemcorresponding to the face of the main object to be last. Setting of thedisplay order of the remaining objects (faces 1202 and 1203) is notparticularly limited. In step S705, the system control unit 50initializes the rendering order i to 1.

In steps S706 to S713, items are displayed in the order in which theitem of the object having a highest priority level (main object) comeslast. Thus, a plurality of items related to a plurality of objects aredisplayed in a display order complying with the order of priority sothat an item related to an object having a highest priority level isdisplayed in the foreground.

In step S706, the system control unit 50 renders a face recognitionframe for a face having the rendering order i. In step S707, the systemcontrol unit 50 collates the face having the rendering order i with dataregistered in advance, and determines whether the face is a registeredone. If the system control unit 50 determines that the face is not aface registered in advance, the process advances to step S712 toincrement the rendering order i. If the system control unit 50determines in step S707 that the face is a face registered in advance,the process advances to step S708. In step S708, the system control unit50 determines whether the face having the rendering order is the face ofthe main object. In the embodiment, when i=Imax, it is determined thatthe face of the object is that of the main object. If the system controlunit 50 determines that the face having the rendering order i is theface of the main object, the process advances to step S709. In stepS709, the system control unit 50 determines whether the rendering rangeof an item (person name in this example, but the item is not limited tothis) corresponding to the face of the main object falls within thedisplay area (area of the display unit 28 where the through image isdisplayed). If the system control unit 50 determines that the renderingrange of the item falls outside the display area, the process advancesto step S710 to adjust the rendering position so that the item fallswithin the display area. If the rendering range of the item falls withinthe display area, the processing in step S710 is skipped. Also, if thesystem control unit 50 determines in step S708 that the face having therendering order i is not the face of the main object, a series of itemdisplay position adjustment processes in steps S709 and S710 is notperformed.

In step S711, the system control unit 50 renders the item (person namein this example) corresponding to the face having the rendering order i.Then, the system control unit 50 increments the rendering order i instep S712, and determines in step S713 whether the rendering order i hasreached the face detection count Imax. If the rendering order i has notreached the face detection count Imax, the process returns to step S706to repeat the above-described series of processes. If the renderingorder i has reached the face detection count Imax, the process advancesto step S714.

In step S714, another processing in the shooting mode processing isperformed. For example, this processing includes:

Acceptance of a shooting setting change operation from the user, andchange of settings

Shooting preparation processing such as AF and AE in accordance with thesignal SW1 generated by a half stroke of the shutter button 61, andactual shooting processing in accordance with the signal SW2 generatedby a full stroke of the shutter button 61

Note that the shooting preparation processing is performed in accordancewith a detected face when it is set to perform face AF. In face AF, theshooting preparation processing can be adjusted preferentially to a faceregistered by personal authentication (for example, a registered face isset as the AF area). Also, personal authentication is performed for animage obtained by actual shooting. When a registered face is detected,information indicating the position of the detected face, andinformation (for example, name and birthday) recorded in the nonvolatilememory 56 as relation information of the detected face are recorded inthe header of the image file. The image file is then recorded on therecording medium 200.

In step S715, it is determined whether an event to end the shooting modeprocessing has occurred. The event to end the shooting mode processingincludes an event in which the mode switch 60 is operated to switch themode to one (for example, playback mode) other than the shooting mode,and an event to turn off the power supply. If an event to end theshooting mode processing has not occurred, the process returns to stepS701 to repeat the processing. If it is determined that an event to endthe shooting mode processing has occurred, the shooting mode processingends.

By performing the shooting mode processing, a display state as shown inFIG. 12B can be obtained. More specifically, an item 1211 of the face1201 serving as the main object is rendered in the foreground, and theitem 1211 overwrites the displays of items 1212 and 1213 of the faces1202 and 1203. As a result, the visibility of the item related to themain object is ensured.

FIG. 13A shows a display example when a series of correction processesregarding the rendering position of an item related to a main object insteps S709 and S710 is performed. In FIG. 13A, an entire item 1311 of aface 1301 serving as a main object is displayed by translating therendering position of the item 1311 from a basic position (indicated bya broken line) to the left. An item 1312 related to a face 1302 otherthan the main object remains extending outside the display area, and isdisplayed behind the display of the item of the main object.

The above processing is lower in processing load than item displayposition optimization in browsing mode processing because the renderingposition of an item related to only a main object is optimized. In theshooting mode, the display unit 28 displays a live view, so the low-loadprocessing is suitable. Since a through image is displayed as live viewdisplay, an object in the image changes dynamically. In the embodiment,therefore, the processing shown in FIG. 7 is repetitively executedduring the shooting mode. If the priority level of the object in theimage during the live view display changes, the item display is changedfollowing this. In the embodiment, by reducing item adjustment, low-loadprocessing is performed in the live view display in shooting than instill image playback. Even display processing which is repetitivelyexecuted can be performed smoothly.

Depending on the positional relationship between objects, the displaysof items 1412 and 1413 of face 1402 and 1403 overlap a face 1401 of aleading object, as shown in FIG. 14A. In this case, for example, afterit is determined in step S713 that rendering processing for all itemshas ended (YES in step S713), hollow rendering may be performed todelete a rendered image from an area within a frame surrounding the face1401 of the leading object. In this way, in the shooting mode, an imagein a specific area including the leading object (main object) isdisplayed in the foreground with respect to the display of an itemrelated to another object. As a result, the image as shown in FIG. 14Ais changed to one as shown in FIG. 14B. Thus, the visibility of the mainobject improves. Note that the specific area may be an area where AF isperformed in shooting.

Even when a plurality of faces exist, the above-described control canimplement display control capable of

displaying larger numbers of person names and person faces in theplayback mode to easily see them, and

ensuring the visibility of a person name corresponding to the face of amain object with a low processing load in the shooting mode in which theload is applied to shooting processing.

In item display in the playback mode and shooting mode, the followingcontrol may be executed to further reduce the processing load. Morespecifically, the display position of an item related to an object isselected from predetermined positions based on the position of theobject. For example, renderable positions are restricted to onlypositions each where the intersection point of lines vertically andhorizontally dividing the frame into four comes to the center of anitem, as shown in FIG. 13B. In FIG. 13B, items are arranged at three ofthese positions. Of these positions, a position which is outside theface area of an object and is closest to this area is selected as arendering position. This processing reduces the rendering countaccompanying movement of an object. Increasing the division countimproves the followability of a display item to an object. Decreasingthe division count decreases the rendering count and reduces theprocessing load. To decrease the rendering count in the shooting mode,when the moving distance of an object on the frame (screen) exceeds apredetermined value, the display position of an item related to theobject may be updated.

As described above, in the image capture apparatus according to theembodiment or the display control apparatus applied to the image captureapparatus, a display capable of easily determining the relation with anobject can be implemented by simpler display control. For example, whenthe image capture apparatus is in the playback mode, pieces ofinformation are displayed to be discriminable even in an image in whichmany faces exist densely, while maintaining the relation with objects.Even in the shooting mode in which the load of the arithmetic devicecannot be applied to control for maintaining a satisfactory informationdisplay state, the information display of only a main object is kept ina discriminable state. The present invention can provide a productcompetitive in the manufacturing cost, main body size, and the likewhile ensuring the visibility of information related to an object byswitching the display control.

The present invention has been described in detail based on thepreferred embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited tothe specific embodiment, and includes various forms without departingfrom the gist of the invention. Parts of the above-described embodimentmay be properly combined.

The present invention is also implemented by executing the followingprocessing. More specifically, software (program) for implementing thefunctions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to a system orapparatus via a network or various storage media, and the computer (orCPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes theprogram.

According to the present invention, an item display capable of easilydetermining the relation with an object can be maintained even in thelive view display.

Aspects of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of asystem or apparatus (or devices such as a CPU or MPU) that reads out andexecutes a program recorded on a memory device to perform the functionsof the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method, the steps ofwhich are performed by a computer of a system or apparatus by, forexample, reading out and executing a program recorded on a memory deviceto perform the functions of the above-described embodiment(s). For thispurpose, the program is provided to the computer for example via anetwork or from a recording medium of various types serving as thememory device (for example, computer-readable storage medium).

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2011-289892, filed Dec. 28, 2011, and No. 2011-289893, filed Dec. 28,2011 which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display control apparatus comprising: a displaycontrol unit configured to display, together with an image on a displayunit, items related to a plurality of objects in the image, said displaycontrol unit displaying, for the plurality of objects in the image,items related to the respective objects at display positions having apredetermined relative positional relationship with the objects; and adecision unit configured to decide an order of priority of the pluralityof objects, wherein in case that an area of a main object having a highpriority decided by said decision unit and a display position having thepredetermined relative positional relationship for an item related toanother object overlap each other, said display control unit adjusts thedisplay position of the item related to the other object to eliminatethe overlapping, and displays the item related to the other object. 2.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display control unitadjusts the display position of the item related to the other object tohave one relative positional relationship among a plurality of relativepositional relationships defined in advance.
 3. The apparatus accordingto claim 2, wherein in case that said one relative positionalrelationship among the plurality of relative positional relationships isa relative positional relationship in which the area of the main objectand the item related to the other object overlap each other, saiddisplay control unit adjusts the display position of the item related tothe other object to have another relative positional relationship amongthe plurality of relative positional relationships.
 4. The apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein in case that the plurality of relativepositional relationships defined in advance do not include a relativepositional relationship in which the area of the main object and theitem related to the other object do not overlap each other, said displaycontrol unit does not adjust the display position of the item related tothe other object.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in casethat a display position having the predetermined relative positionalrelationship for the item related to the main object and the displayposition having the predetermined relative positional relationship forthe item related to the other object overlap each other, said displaycontrol unit adjusts the display position of the item related to theother object to prevent overlapping on the item related to the mainobject, and displays the item related to the other object.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein in case that a display positionhaving the predetermined relative positional relationship for the itemrelated to the main object and the display position having thepredetermined relative positional relationship for the item related tothe other object overlap each other, said display control unit adjuststhe display position of the item related to the other object to preventthe item related to the other object from overlapping the area of themain object and the item related to the main object, and displays theitem related to the other object.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein in case that said display control unit adjusts the displayposition of the item related to the other object, and the adjusteddisplay position of the item related to the other object overlaps thearea of the main object or the item related to the main object, saiddisplay control unit displays the item related to the other object atthe display position having the predetermined relative positionalrelationship without adjusting the display position of the item relatedto the other object.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein incase that display of the item extends outside a display area of thedisplay unit, said display control unit changes the display position ofthe item to display the entire item.
 9. The apparatus according to claim1, wherein the area of the object includes a face area of the object.10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said decision unitregisters priority levels for respective objects in advance, obtains apriority level of an object identified in the image by referring to theregistered priority levels, and decides the order of priority based onthe obtained priority level.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10,further comprising a determination unit configured to determine whetheran object in the image smiles, wherein said decision unit raises apriority level of the object determined by said determination unit tosmile.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said decisionunit decides the order of priority based on a size of the face area. 13.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display controlapparatus includes a shooting mode in which the display unit performslive view display based on an image shot by an image sensing unit, and aplayback mode in which the display unit displays only a shot image, andin the playback mode, said display control unit adjusts the displayposition of the item related to the other object to prevent the itemrelated to the other object from overlapping the area of the mainobject, and in the shooting mode, adjusts the item related to the mainobject and does not adjust the item related to the other object.
 14. Animage capture apparatus including a shooting mode in which a displayunit performs live view display, and a playback mode in which thedisplay unit displays a shot image for browsing, comprising: a displaycontrol unit configured to display, for a plurality of objects in animage displayed on the display unit, items related to the objects atdisplay positions in the image that have a predetermined relativepositional relationship with the objects; and a decision unit configuredto decide an order of priority of the plurality of objects whose itemsare displayed, wherein said display control unit includes an adjustmentunit which adjusts display of the item to widen a visible range of theitem, and in the shooting mode, said adjustment unit executes theadjustment for only an item related to a main object having a highpriority among the plurality of objects, and in the playback mode,executes the adjustment for items related to the respective objects. 15.The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said adjustment unitadjusts the display of the item to have one relative positionalrelationship among a plurality of relative positional relationshipsdefined in advance.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein inthe playback mode, said display control unit adjusts a display positionof an item related to another object to prevent the item related to theother object from overlapping an area of the main object, and in casethat the plurality of relative positional relationships do not include arelative positional relationship in which the area of the main objectand the item related to the other object do not overlap each other, saiddisplay control unit does not adjust the display position of the itemrelated to the other object.
 17. A display control method comprising: adisplay control step of displaying, together with an image on a displayunit, items related to a plurality of objects in the image, in thedisplay control step, for the plurality of objects in the image, itemsrelated to the respective objects being displayed at display positionshaving a predetermined relative positional relationship with theobjects; and a decision step of deciding an order of priority of theplurality of objects, wherein in the display control step, in case thatan area of a main object having a high priority decided in the decisionstep and a display position having the predetermined relative positionalrelationship for an item related to another object overlap each other,the display position of the item related to the other object is adjustedto eliminate the overlapping, and the item related to the other objectis displayed.
 18. A method of controlling an image capture apparatusincluding a shooting mode in which a display unit performs live viewdisplay, and a playback mode in which the display unit displays a shotimage for browsing, comprising: a display control step of displaying,for a plurality of objects in an image displayed on the display unit,items related to the objects at display positions in the image that havea predetermined relative positional relationship with the objects; and adecision step of deciding an order of priority of the plurality ofobjects whose items are displayed, wherein the display control stepincludes an adjustment step of adjusting display of the item to widen avisible range of the item, and in the adjustment step, in the shootingmode, the adjustment is executed for only an item related to a mainobject having a high priority among the plurality of objects, and in theplayback mode, the adjustment is executed for items related to therespective objects.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a methoddescribed in claim
 17. 20. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a methoddescribed in claim 18.